2023 Focus ST-Line Vignale MHEV Gearbox Issues

Hi all,

I'm not a massive car enthusiast and this is my first time posting here, so any help would be much appreciated!

My Focus occasionally struggles with engaging 1st gear on hills. When this happens there's a grinding sound and the car doesn't move, the only way to get around this is by either quickly shifting into neutral or 2nd and then back into 1st, after doing this the car moves off with no issues (this only happens on hills).

I've had the car for just under a year now and there's only 13,500 miles on the clock. The gearstick also squeaks when shifting from neutral to 1st (sometimes doesn't make a noise if you slowly shift out of neutral). Since buying the car, the squeaking from neutral to 1st has always happened but the issue with hills has started happening more frequently in the last few weeks.

My base warranty actually runs out tomorrow (Monday 26th), so I emailed and called my local Ford dealership last night to ensure the issue is at least logged with them before the warranty ends. I got a call back from the sales team confirming the someone from the servicing team would call me back on Monday.

After some googling, I believe my gearbox is the Getrag B6 / MX65 6-speed manual but I can't see these are common issues. Would anyone be able to shed any light on what the problem could be, and I assume this will be covered under the warranty as I reported it before the end date?

Cheers